Holiday Sales Are Up for Some Poulsbo Retailers

Front Street has been bustling on the weekends, and many shop owners are reporting better-than-expected holiday sales.

by Tammy Adamson-McMullen/Poulsbo Life

TIPS FOR BUILDING HOLIDAY SALES

As the days count down to Christmas, there are ways shop owners can enhance their sales, suggested Doug Fleener, former director of retail for Bose and president of the Dynamic Experiences Group consultant company. Here are some of his top suggestions:

1. Take time to check in with each employee and review his/her seasonal performance to date. Ask employees to identify how they've contributed to current business and how they might improve. "It takes constant improvement by each member of the team to create an extraordinary holiday," Fleener said.

2. Call your best customers and invite them in for some personal shopping time. You might consider having a special gift for them to demonstrate your appreciation for their loyalty.

3. If you have a business crowd that shops during lunch hours, consider offering sandwiches or a small buffet to keep them in the store longer. If you have an e-mail list, you can promote this with a quick invitation to join you for a "holiday lunch while you shop."

4. Make a list of what you'd like to accomplish if you have a little extra time. Whenever the store is slow and there is plenty of staff available to cover your absence, spend 15 minutes working on the list. "You'll be amazed how much you can get done when you're ready to take advantage of a brief lull," Fleener said.

5. Maintain your position as the "the reference standard" for customers. Don't get so hassled during the holidays that you can't answer a question, recommend a product or introduce yourself to a new customer

If you've heard something unusual while visiting historic downtown Poulsbo in the past couple of weeks, it could be a sigh of relief.

While final sales numbers have yet to be tabulated, Front Street has been bustling with shoppers this holiday season, causing retailers to cross their fingers that their books by year's end will be firmly in the black.

The shops that have fared the best during the giving season are — not surprisingly — gift and candy shops. What is surprising, however, is how well they are doing in the present economy. Shops that offer a range of price points and holiday-themed items seem to be especially thriving.

One of them is Hearts & Homespun gift shop, where customers one recent Saturday were standing shoulder to shoulder. Owner Kathy Holodnak said she's been pleased and even "shockingly surprised" at sales, considering how dreadful the economy was this past year.

"In fact, we came in this morning and undecorated one tree and redecorated it with different things to make it look more interesting because we'd sold so much stuff off it," Holodnak said.

Of course, "The weather needs to cooperate," she added. But meanwhile, "We've been selling a lot of stuff, and people seem to be happy with what we're providing. It's about time!"

The mother and daughter team of Suzanne and Karen Suther, who co-own Boehm's Chocolates, said sales likewise have exceeded their expectations and began picking up the weekend after Halloween. "We were utterly amazed," Suzanne said.

Suzanne reported that many customers immediately began buying holiday decorations. One of the hottest sellers has been a tree ornament made up of tiny jingle bells. "They're all gone, and we can't get anymore," she said.

Also popular have been custom orders, particularly those involving old tins. It's become a tradition for some of Boehm's customers to save their favorite candy tins and bring them back to be refilled. Boehm's has been doing a lot of this "custom packing," Suzanne said, noting that the trend is particularly popular at Christmas.

While Suzanne said it's too early to know how sales compare with last year at this time, "It's probably on par," she said, adding, "One of the things I think is an advantage is that we've been here so long."

Meanwhile, Jeanne Snouwaert, co-owner of the Nordic Maid, reported that sales have been good for some time now. "It's been great for us. In fact, the whole summer was good for us as well as the fall. So I guess we can't complain," she said.

Snouwaert noted that Scandinavian shops are hard to come by, "so when people do find us, they're willing to shop a little more," she said. "We get people all the time coming in from out of town who are really happy to find us."

Like Holodnak, Snouwaert hopes snowstorms don't force any early shop closings as they did last year. She noted that many retailers along Front Street were experiencing steady sales in December 2009 until the weather turned nasty.